 Nerine Shatner Friendly House
This non profit organization is one of the nation's first residential
homes for women recovering from alcohol and substance abuse.
Donate
Here>>>
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Hollywood
Charity
Horse Show
For the past eleven years, William Shatner has spearheaded the HCHS
which features some of the best western reining riders in the country
while simultaneously raising money for charity.
Donate
Here>>>
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William
Shatner also
Supports:
 March
of
Dimes Canada
 The Jewish
National Fund
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Post subject:
 Posted: Jun 26, 2008 - 11:05 PM
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From the Sierra Club...
Video PSAs
The world's scientists agree: Global warming is real, here, and happening faster than anyone predicted. But scientists also say we can curb global warming and its consequences -- if we take bold, comprehensive action now that adds up to an 80 percent cut in carbon emissions by 2050, or 2 percent a year.
William Shatner shares how past environmental victories show us that we can stop global warming.
http://www.sierraclub.org/twopercent/
VIDEO playback = 59 seconds
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Post subject:
Posted: Jun 28, 2008 - 01:01 AM
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From Ian's Messy Desk Blog...
Top 20 Ways to Tell if You're Canadian
June 27, 2008
Tuesday, July 1 is Canada Day. Here are the principle ways to determine if you are a Canadian.
1: You understand the phrase "Could you pass me a serviette, I just dropped my poutine on the chesterfield."
2: You eat chocolate bars, not candy bars.
3: You drink Pop, not Soda.
4: You know that a Mickey and 2-4's mean, "party at the camp, eh!"
5: You don't care about the fuss with Cuba. It's a cheap place to go for your holidays, with good cigars and no Americans.
6: You know that a pike is a type of fish, not part of a highway.
7: You have Canadian Tire money in your kitchen drawers.
8: You know that Casey and Finnegan were not part of a Celtic musical group.
9: You brag to Americans that: Shania Twain, Jim Carrey, Celine Dion, Michael J. Fox, John Candy, William Shatner, Tom Green, Matthew Perry, Mike Myers, Neve Campbell and Pamela Anderson are all Canadians.
10: You design your Halloween costume to fit over a snowsuit.
11: You know that the last letter of the English alphabet is pronounced "Zed".
12: Your local newspaper covers national news on 2 pages, but requires 6 pages for hockey.
13: You know that when it's 25 degrees outside, it's a warm day.
14: You know how to pronounce and spell "Saskatchewan".
15: You perk up when you hear the theme song from 'Hockey Night in Canada'.
16: "Eh?" is a very important part of your vocabulary, and is more polite than, "Huh?"
17: Your Beer Case handles Are Big Enough To Fit Your Mitts
18: You know that we don't all live in igloos and ride polar bears to work.
19: Every murder is reported (in the news).
20: You froze your tongue to something metal and survived to tell about it.
http://www.ismckenzie.com/06/27/top-20- ... -canadian/
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Post subject:
Posted: Jun 28, 2008 - 01:51 AM
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Post subject:
Posted: Jun 28, 2008 - 04:12 AM
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From the Rocky Mount Telegram...
Books: Determined star's voyage
Shatner didn't take easy way up ladder
By Mae Woods Bell, Book Reviewer / Sunday, June 29, 2008
Up Till Now by William Shatner with David Fisher; St. Martin's Press; 358 pages; U$25.95.
This scintillating autobiography is full of anecdotes that will have the reader chortling over madcap scenes and self-deprecating asides. But this also is a double-level book in which an introspective side of William Shatner is evident as well, as he reveals his passions for acting, horses and dogs, his myriad adventures and his one deep tragedy.
Shatner recalls the first time he stood on a stage. He was 6, and he made the audience cry. It was at a summer camp for Jewish children, run by his aunt in the mountains near Montreal. She cast him in the play "Winterset" as a boy who has to leave his home and his dog. The play was performed on parents' weekend, and since the audience consisted primarily of people who had escaped the Nazis and had left everything behind, they were one with the little actor.
"Just imagine the impact that had on a six-year-old child. I had the ability to move people to tears. And I could get approval," Shatner writes, remembering the warm feeling as his father held him after the show.
He wonders where the need to please people came from. His family history gave no clues. The Shatners came from Eastern Europe, where several of his forbears were rabbis and teachers -- but not actors. His father, was in the clothing business, manufacturing men's suits for French-Canadian stores. His father's hope that William, who earned a business degree from McGill University, would expand the clothing line came to naught. The younger Shatner had acted throughout his childhood in the Montreal's Children's Theatre, and while still in high school he got his first real job in the theater as a stage manager. At McGill, he'd spent more time in the drama department than going to class; he understood the value of money -- but acting was more important.
Shatner's work ethic comes from his father, from whom he also learned the value of education, respect for others and to be on time and prepared to work. Shatner's friend Leonard Nemoy jokes about the fact that Shatner never stops working. That goes back to the very beginning of his career; he had to take anything that he was offered and the habit stuck. Now in his late 70s, he still is going strong. His credits include stage performances, movies, television, voice-overs, radio programs, Webcasts, videos, Star Trek conventions, game shows, writing books and songs, directing and producing, performing at concerts and appearing on talk shows and award programs, not to mention riding in horse shows.
During those hectic years, he had two failed marriages. As he looks back at these marriages to fellow actors Marcy Lafferty and Gloria Rand, he writes he thought that it was simple: He earned the money, his wife ran the house. At first, these marriages were successful, but he realizes he was not flexible enough to fulfill his spouses' needs for recognition on their own. His marriage to Narine Kidd ended tragically with her drowning, and he hadn't been able to get a foothold on life for ages. His health deteriorated, and his doctors were concerned that the stress was slowly killing him.
However, he is emotionally whole now. Eventually with much soul-searching and some trepidation, Shatner and a fellow horse lover and trainer, Elizabeth Martin, were married. Martin's husband had had cancer, and she'd nursed him for several years until his death. Shatner and Martin had gone through all the stages of grief before they met.
Shatner has a successful riding horse breeding business with a farm in Lexington, Ky. Among his various charities is showing and performing at celebrity shows. He is an excellent rider and loves his animals -- all animals. Whether one thinks of William Shatner as Capt. Kirk in Star Trek, police Sgt. T.J. Hooker in the show of the same name, Denny Crane in Boston Legal or the ubiquitous price negotiator in TV commercials, he uses his celebrity to help charities. In an extreme case, he sold a kidney stone suffered after an attack during Boston Legal, for $75,000 to benefit Habitat for Humanity -- a true but funny story, like so many that he recounts.
The book includes an index and a large number of black-and-white and color photos.
In addition to playing Capt. Kirk, William Shatner directed seven Star Trek movies and won two Emmys and a Golden Globe as attorney Denny Crane on Boston Legal. He has three adult daughters. He lives in New York with his wife.
Co-author David Fisher is author of 15 New York Times best-sellers. He lives in New York with his wife, two teenagers, one dog and one cat.
An Excerpt
The heroic characteristics exemplified by Captain James Kirk -- among them honesty, integrity, compassion, and courage -- were easily transferable, making me a desirable commercial spokesperson. At the beginning of my career it was well known that real actors simply did not do television commercials. Actors acted, spokesmen spoke, period. It was considered an act of prostitution. Many stage actors would choose to starve rather than sell out, and a lot of them got the opportunity to do just that. I felt very much the same way, I was not for sale! Not that anyone was interested in buying, of course, but even if I had been offered a commercial I would have refused.
But in 1963 I co-starred with Paul Newman, Edward G. Robinson, Laurence Harvey, my friend Howard Da Silver, and Claire Bloom in The Outrage, Martin Ritt's westernized remake of Kurosawa's Rashomon. I played a disillusioned preacher who is told three different versions of a rape committed by a Mexican bandit played by Paul Newman. For me, the joy in making this film was the opportunity to work with Edward G. Robinson, whom I had long idolized as one of America's finest actors. One night he invited me to his home for dinner, and afterward took me out back where he had built a small round building that vaguely resembled New York Guggenheim Museum. This was his art museum and inside was arguably the finest private collection of French impressionist works in the world. He was passionate about it. As he showed these paintings to me he referred to them as his "children."
Coincidentally, a couple of days earlier I'd happened to see a coffee commercial he'd done. It had been jarring for me to see an actor of his stature doing a commercial, so I asked him about it. He looked at me, then pointed at a superlative painting by one of the masters. "That's why," he said.
http://www.rockymounttelegram.com/featr ... 9/Mae.html
AUDIO (MP3) playback time = 7 minutes
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Post subject:
Posted: Jun 29, 2008 - 06:42 AM
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Via the Farpoint Convention Weblog
Farpoint 2009 Guest Update
June 29, 2008 by svanblarcom
In response to the large number of members who have requested more "behind the scenes" professionals, actor Phil Weyland will be joining us. Phil is a longtime member of the Star Trek family, although one whose name may not be the most familiar. He was DeForest Kelley's double on Star Trek: The Motion Picture and ST II: The Wrath of Khan. Phil then began working as a double and dialogue coach for William Shatner on the remaining Trek movies and is still filling this role today for Mr. Shatner on Boston Legal.
Phil will be joining our old friend Harve Bennett at Farpoint's new home, the Crowne Plaza Baltimore North in Timonium, MD.
http://farpoint.wordpress.com/2008/06/2 ... st-update/
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Post subject:
Posted: Jun 29, 2008 - 02:28 PM
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From CTV Canada...
Shatner looks back at his 'most illogical' career
Josh Visser, CTV.ca News Staff / Updated Sun. Jun. 29 2008 7:09 AM ET
It's hard to believe that William Shatner -- Captain James T. Kirk, T.J. Hooker, the guy from Rescue 911 -- is an old man now. But at 77, Shatner says his life has never been better.
And it's not just because of all the free All-Bran.
In an interview with CTV.ca from his home in California, Shatner discussed growing old and the great existential questions, the art of humour, the streets of Toronto and that upcoming movie called Star Trek.
Shatner recently released his autobiography Up till Now upon the world. He chronicles growing up in middle-class Montreal to doing live television in New York, and his rise to fame in Star Trek, and then his eventual fall from grace. And then his rise again as Trek hit the big screen in the 70s and starring in another hit show, T.J. Hooker, in the 80s. And then his falling off the radar in the early 90s only to . . . oh, you get the idea.
"I made a decision to write the book because I think of it like a legacy to my kids and grandchildren," Shatner told CTV.ca. "Life is fragile enough but as you get older it becomes even more fragile, so I thought I better do it now."
It's hard not to compare Shatner's thoughts on growing old with the character he is currently playing on television -- Denny Crane from Boston Legal. For those unfamiliar with the show, Shatner's performance has been nothing less than shockingly good -- he's won two Emmy's for it already.
His character, a brilliant but eccentric lawyer, has been diagnosed with Alzheimer's and has been trying to experience all of life's pleasures before losing the ability to enjoy them.
Shatner on being Shatner
But Shatner says he is completely satisfied with his lot in life. In fact, he can't think of anything he'd change.
"I'm in such a contented arena of my life at this moment, I keep waiting for the bubble to burst. I'm happily married, my children are healthy and are a couple of miles away, plus my grandchildren are here," he said.
"I'm physically active, I ride a lot of horses . . . and my dogs are beside me and I got a really comfortable home. I'd rather stay home than go someplace. And I've got a great job. I've been so blessed by everything in these last few years that I can't imagine wanting anything else.
"There isn't a part I want to play. I've got the best part of someone my age going and I've got all kinds of interesting things coming up."
I pause at this moment to let the reader know that Shatner does sort of. Talk a bit. Like this, but it's not as exaggerated as it is on . . . television.
"I'm going to be able to leave my wife and my children comfortable when I die, so that's good," he continues.
And finally, "I'm older than I ever expected to be," he finishes.
How old did Shatner expect to make it? Oh, "about 42," he says.
That would have been before the great Shatner transformation. At 42, Shatner would have been best known for Trek -- but also for his um, 'inspired' career choices -- including the only movie filmed entirely in the made-up language of Esperanto and his 1968 album The Transformed Man.
That's the concept album that mixes spoken word covers of the Beatles and Bob Dylan with dramatic readings of Shakespeare, set to bombastic music. Only Shatner could have recovered from its response -- let alone make another album in 2004 called Has Been -- which was critically revered.
How does he find himself in such a wide variety of projects? He provides a refreshing answer -- whatever is "fun" and pays him.
"You get an inordinate amount of money for very little amount of work and that has an appeal," he says. "You try to balance one with the other -- things of great interest and things that you find difficult to turn down because the money is so good."
The post-post ironic Shatner
Since 1997, Shatner has carved a self-mocking public personality that transcends both art and business, into something completely his. From his Priceline.com and All-Bran commercials, to his role as an off-kilter Bill Shatner in the 1997 film Free Enterprise and the numerous reality shows, Shatner, a senior citizen, has somehow managed to become the spokesperson for 'Generation Irony'.
The Stratford-trained actor best known for his over-acting, all of a sudden turned out to a self-aware comedian, which makes one wonder if Shatner was always in on the joke.
"There's a fine line between reality and amusement and what people would take seriously and what they would take as amusing and if you can refine that line to a hair's breadth, then it becomes interesting for me the performer and you the viewer," Shatner says.
"I think I worked on that a bit," he deadpans.
So, is that goofy Shatner we see playing himself and showing up for a comedy special called The Roast of William Shatner, close to the actual man himself?
"This sense of comedy, which is the opposite of saying I'm funny -- it's almost metaphysical -- you can't quite put your finger on it, but when you see it you know it," he says. "I can't be anything else but me but you can exaggerate aspects of your personality and it is in that area of exaggeration that I think there's comedy."
"You're ultra real as compared to trying to be funny."
At 77, Shatner has never been more busy and in demand. He credits his longevity to his health and luck.
"I think luck -- and I believe its luck and not divine purpose but some people might ascribe it to that -- is a huge competent into anyone's life, yes, you have to be ready when you get lucky and you have to make your own luck...but at the same time there is the fateful fall of the stars and when they align that's good and when they are in chaos it's bad and you can do nothing about it."
Up till Now boldly goes
Shatner's autobiography, written along with David Fisher, is a rarity among celebrity tomes -- it's very funny, although the self-referential humour can come off like self-absorbance if you don't "get" the Shat. Mid-sentence Shatner will jump off-topic, telling the reader about something for sale on his website, or mentioning that he made a new "friend" on MySpace. Plus, the last line of his book is so outrageously funny you are warned not to read it in public.
But Up till Now is also refreshingly honest and packs an emotional punch. Early on Shatner touches on his loneliness and despair living on Toronto's Jarvis Street as a young man while doing work for CBC radio.
In the book, he said for years after he left Toronto, his biggest worry was he would fail and end up back on Jarvis Street.
"I don't know if that ever goes away. That may not stay with you on a daily basis but I think once you've been traumatized by any of these things -- poverty, loneliness, grief, even food poisoning -- your body reacts to thing that poisons you and you are traumatized by it for a long time," he says.
"You never lose the sense of jeopardy and the lack of feeling of security. That's a constant balancing act, even as you get older and get to accumulate some money."
Shatner on the new Star Trek
At the very end of the interview, Shatner talks about Star Trek, specifically the new movie that he's not in.
The film -- the 11th in the series -- is a prequel or reboot (depending on what source you read) that will feature Captain Kirk, Mr. Spock, Dr. McCoy and all the beloved characters from the original series -- but played by different actors.
Only Leonard Nimoy, who played Spock, is returning from the original cast.
The film is being directed by Lost mastermind J.J. Abrams. Last year, Shatner expressed some dismay that he wouldn't be in the movie, even telling The Associated Press that it didn't seem like a "wise business decision."
The (lame) death of Kirk in the seventh Trek film in 1994 was certainly no obstacle to Shatner, who has revived his own career from the thralls of death too many times to count.
But Shatner hardly seems angry at the supposed snub now, if anything he seems disappointed.
He said that he caught Abrams' feature film directorial debut, Mission Impossible III, the other day on television and that made him feel a tinge of sadness about not being in the new Trek film.
"I was amazed at what a wonderful director J.J. Abrams is and he's going to make a wonderful movie," Shatner says. "I was just disappointed I'm not in the movie he is going to make because it is going to great."
'It was fun'
While Shatner says that while he's certainly not going to turn down any interesting projects, he can't think of anything he wants to do.
"If there's something I really wanted to do, I just get up and do it. There's nothing preventing me," he says.
That sums up his career pretty nicely -- Shatner has just gone and done it. Critics may have laughed at his choices but deep into the third golden age of his career -- Shatner has laughed loudest and last.
"A varied career that seems somewhat unlikely," is what Shatner would put on his career's epitaph. I believe Spock would call that a "highly logical" conclusion.
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/s ... TopStories
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Post subject:
Posted: Jul 01, 2008 - 12:49 AM
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From the National Post...
William Shatner: 'Everything's linked inextricably'
It was only at the behest of his publisher -- and with a good old fashioned dose of ego -- that William Shatner decided to write his memoirs. reconsidered.
Mark Medley, National Post, Published: Monday, June 30, 2008
William Shatner never intended to write his memoirs. He really didn't have much to say. Anything anyone ever wanted to know was already there, in the open; all you had to do was look at his onscreen roles, his five previous non-fiction books and his unconventional yet acclaimed music career. It was only at the behest of his publisher -- and with a good old fashioned dose of ego -- that the 77-year-old actor reconsidered.
"The thing that tipped me in the direction of doing it was [the fact that] I've got children and grandchildren," he says, adding they consider him "old hat." "They don't know too much of what happened, and I thought this would be an interesting legacy for them to read at some point, especially the grandkids. They might pick up the book, someday in the future and think, 'Oh my God. Why didn't I talk to him?' " Shatner laughs.
The autobiography, Up Till Now, is what you'd expect from a man who has cultivated a slightly off-kilter persona; this is someone, after all, whose acting method on Star Trek has been endlessly skewered; who seems equally comfortable in B-grade fare like American Psycho 2 as in big budget movies. Not only are the characters he's played pop culture icons, but so is Shatner himself. One moment you may spot him on TV's Boston Legal, his current Emmywinning gig, the next you'll hear his cover of Pulp's Common People on the radio. You never know what to expect. And Shatner says he didn't know what kind of reaction to expect from the book, either.
"I was filled with dread that nobody would buy it," he says. "The same way, when I go to a book signing or some place that an audience is supposed to turn up, I'm wondering whether anybody will turn up."
A month after its release, the book still sits at or near the top of several categories on Amazon, and Shatner's the first to admit his amazement that anyone still cares: "It's flattering, but it's also scary," he says.
Up Till Now chronicles Shatner's long career, from his childhood in Montreal, working for the CBC in Toronto, his time at the Stratford Festival, his three years on Star Trek, his four marriages, plus his work on dozens and dozens of films and TV shows like T.J. Hooker and Rescue 911, and the strange 1965 horror film Incubus, which was shot entirely in Esperanto. Shatner called the process of combing through his life, with writer David Fisher, "chaotic," though he himself never went back to watch any of his early work while researching the book: "I can't stand to look at myself," he says. He also says the writing process, which forced him to contemplate his career, hasn't left him with any regrets.
"Life is cyclical. You're up and then you're down. And when you're down, you think, 'I should have done something else.' But you can't. You've done what you could do in the circumstances," he says. "Everything's linked inextricably. Therefore regret doesn't work. You can learn. But regret doesn't work."
There is a moment from his life he probably wishes he could change, though. In August, 1999 Shatner came home to find his third wife, Nerine Kidd-Shatner, dead at the bottom of their backyard swimming pool. She was an alcoholic; she was drinking out back, had slipped, hit her head and fallen into the pool. He shares the story in detail, though initially he was unsure how -- or even whether -- to approach the subject.
"I went around it quite a bit in my mind. It was a part of my history. I spoke about it in a way that I hadn't spoken about it before," he says. "I was in a grief-stricken period of a year. But then as the grief changes -- it doesn't go away, but it changes --I was able to get some objectivity of it. And I wanted to put down some of the more salient facts that I saw."
Though Up Till Now sometimes reads like a curtain call, Shatner insists this is not his swan song. He's in no rush to leave the camera behind.
"I'm so fascinated by what I do, and in love with what I do," he says. "Since I'm being offered the opportunity to do it, why would I say no?"
He still plays Denny Crane on Boston Legal, a role which has won him two Emmys. He's still making movies. He gets offers to return to the stage. He'll probably write another book. But he knows that, at some point, everyone has to leave their career behind. He already has his retirement mapped out for when that day comes.
"I'm going to drop dead. That's when I'll retire."
http://www.nationalpost.com/todays_pape ... ?id=622802
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Post subject:
Posted: Jul 01, 2008 - 01:03 AM
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From the National Post Ampersand...
From the cutting room floor: William Shatner
Posted: June 30, 2008, 1:00 PM by Mark Medley
In Monday's National Post, Mark Medley talks to William Shatner about his new autobiography, Up Till Now. Here's some more of what "The Shatman" had to say:
On what he'd have done if acting hadn't worked out:
"Of late I might have chosen to be a horse trainer or a scuba diving instructor. I've got a mixture of a sense of adventure and a sense of whatever the word would be for staying at home. I'm both a liberal and a conservative. Both action and residing in lethargy. The mixture is such that I don't know what I would do. I enjoy the 18 hour days shooting a series. I'm glad that in a way that its being limited, so that will get me out of there and into real life and seeing more of my wife and kids and doing other projects.... What at I would have done? I don't know. I might have been a writer.... I enjoy telling a story. Even a complex one. I might have turned to that. For the longest time, when I was in Toronto, and doing CBC work, I wrote several dramas for television. I think they were half hours, they might have been hours. And sold a few. And in fact met my first wife on one of them I was acting in as well as having written. And had I not acted I might have continued on in that vein. In fact, it's probably highly likely I would have. But I wasn't good enough. When I see these complex novels and real fine screenplays that have a multitude of levels and are so interesting, the ideas and imagination behind them are so good, I feel that I might not have done well."
On his love of horses:
"There's everything about horses. There's the beauty of them. And there is the stillness of them. And there is the nobility of them. And there is the doggedness of them. And there is the wildness. And there is the communication between species, man and horse. There is the physicality of riding. And there's the joy of competition.... it's a whole complex love affair that goes on. it isn't getting on a horse and riding around the park."
On the worst script he's ever received:
"Once the refusal is made the script goes out of my mind."
On Incubus, the 1965 horror film shot entirely in the made-up language of Esperanto:
"I was given a script by a producer/writer who was well known at the time. I don't know if he died ...Leslie Stevens I think was his name. I'd worked with him on some television shows. And he handed me this script, an independent production, and it was good vs evil, and I thought it was good fun. He was a good director. And I said yes. And then he handed me another script a couple of days later, in Esperanto, and said this is how were going to shoot it. His rationale was there's 7 million people speaking it, they'd probably all come and see the movie. It made some sense to me, and so off we went. I learned Esperanto phonetically. And it was just a bad luck movie: people got divorced, people died, people committed suicide, either before during or afterwards. All kinds of terrible things happened."
Has Leonard Nimoy read the book?
"You know, I don't know. I interviewed him recently.... I didn't want to ask if he's read the book or not, because I didn't want to be embarrassed (if he said) 'No I haven't, or I'm about to.'"
On music:
"I loved doing Has Been. Going to Nashville, having that whole experience with a genius like [Ben Folds]. It was overwhelming in that I was in good hands. I got great guidance. So I would love to repeat it, and although I've asked him if if he would do another, he's gone on to other things. We're great buddies. But I don't think he'd do it again and I'd be afraid of somebody else.... [On the album] I did a rock and roll number. and I understood for the first time what rock and roll is. I wrote some songs from my heart and they turned out well because of [Ben] and I just don't know if I could do anything else. But that rock and roll thing really gave me tremendous insight."
On the possibility of returning to the stage:
"I don't know. I've certainly been asked to go. Eight times a week, and if were going to do it I'd do it in New York. It's quite a routine. I don't know. I don't know. I certainly, in the past, have gotten my jollies from being in front of thousands of people."
On regrets:
"I regret I never talked to Marlon Brando, or Laurence Olivier. We had many mutual friends. I'm just too shy or didn't want to impose. I would have loved to talk to Brando. He lived about a couple of miles away from here. I could have taken him to dinner. I never did."
On acting:
"After you acquire the tools it becomes problem solving more than anything else. If you're able to play the notes, it's just what notes are you going to select. So it becomes, how would this character act here, what would his action or reaction be here? And where does that lead us to? Can I play more than one level... and that becomes a creative, interesting job."
On who he'd cast as himself in a movie of his life:
"Oh, I couldn't see the job going to anybody else."
http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blog ... atner.aspx
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Post subject:
Posted: Jul 01, 2008 - 04:21 AM
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Via the Fozzolog Blog...
Shatner vs Beck
By Doran "Fozz" Barton on June 30, 2008 2:58 AM
Wow!
About a month ago, my hero Glenn Beck had actor, writer, artist, etc. William Shatner on his television program for an hour-long interview. I missed it and didn't record it so I was very pleased to find out it was re-run this last Friday and got snagged on my DVR.
That interview was just amazing and, surprisingly, contained almost no Star Trek content whatsoever. There were some clips from Star Trek shown when they were talking about Shatner's reputation for "overacting" but that's about it.
What did they talk about for an hour if not Star Trek? Some politics, some philosophy, some Shatner history, and alcoholism (Shatner's third wife suffered from alcoholism and it ended up claiming her life.)
Maybe I enjoyed it so much because it was just an almost-informal hour of discussion between two of my favorite people.
It looks like some dude on YouTube has done the honors of capturing the entire hour in six parts. At least he did a real job of capturing the video and didn't just smack a Flip video camera in front of the TV like I've seen some people do!
Here are the obligatory links:
Part 1) http://youtube.com/watch?v=dJayjQZP5Rw
Part 2) http://youtube.com/watch?v=PA2xn35NpdA
Part 3) http://youtube.com/watch?v=KdQwnRavnIE
Part 4) http://youtube.com/watch?v=nuhq-QQZoHc
Part 5) http://youtube.com/watch?v=QoFRJ4faUMg
Part 6) http://youtube.com/watch?v=xpgEbEp_gRY
http://www.fozzilinymoo.org/Fozzolog/20 ... -beck.html
The interview transcript is posted here...
http://williamshatner.com/index.php?nam ... 972#464972
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Post subject:
Posted: Jul 01, 2008 - 11:14 PM
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Posts: 904
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At the BBC...
William Shatner answers your questions
William Shatner has been working as an actor for more than half a century
Page last updated at 09:50 GMT, Tuesday, 1 July 2008 10:50 UK
Actor William Shatner has become one of the world's most well-known entertainers after almost 60 years in showbusiness.
Most famous for his role as Captain James T Kirk in the Star Trek TV series and seven spin-off films, he also starred in police drama TJ Hooker and has released several albums.
Throughout his career he has worked with an extraordinary range of actors, including Spencer Tracy, Burt Lancaster, Marlene Dietrich, Judy Garland, Sandra Bullock, Ben Stiller and Robert DeNiro.
He currently plays bombastic lawyer Denny Crane in Boston Legal -- a role which won him an Emmy Award and Golden Globe in 2005.
From his office in Los Angeles, California, he answered some of your questions about his life and career.
When working on Star Trek you had lots of toys to make your life easier (being based in the future). What, if you could, would you like to actually have real today?
James McKee, Horley, Surrey
I think having a transporter would beat the heavy traffic here in Los Angeles. I wonder whether it would work in downtown London...
Why was Captain Kirk such an intergalactic stud? What was his secret with women and how can I replicate his success?
Tim Needham, Bath, UK
Unfortunately, you can't replicate his success. You need to have all my equipment.
Cast of Star Trek
Star Trek was first broadcast in 1966
You're credited as one half of the first inter-racial screen kiss on US TV. Do you think that moment and indeed Star Trek as a series, helped to break taboos and bring down boundaries?
Paul Rickards, London
Yes, I do think Star Trek had influence in that area. It also apparently influenced a lot of people in making serious decisions about their lives.
Womanising, whisky drinking, and cigar smoking, how much of William Shatner is Denny Crane?
Matthew Cherrill, Chatham
All of William Shatner is there -- plus there's much more untapped.
The screen chemistry with James Spader in Boston Legal seems very genuine. Are you close friends in real life because you seem to have the natural effortless on-screen presence of some of the all time great double acts?
Simon Weitzman, Luton
James and I are very close. I admire and feel very close to him
Your role in Boston Legal is both humorous and poignant regarding the Alzheimer's storyline. How did you research the character's reaction to the illness and what were your thoughts when the illness was written into the script?
Kevin Holmes, Chelmsford, UK.
Alzheimer's has got to be one of the worst diseases to which man is subject.
You gradually lose yourself and at some point you're alive… and no longer you. It's terrifying to play and terrifying to think about.
William Shatner
Shatner won an Emmy for his role in Boston Legal in 2005
Is that really malt whisky in the glasses at the end of every episode of Boston Legal, and if so how many takes do those scenes usually take?
Mark Powell, Warrington
The malt whiskey isn't real -- but the cigars are.
How do you manage to so successfully combine your passion for horses with your intensive work and charity schedule?
Adam McElroy, Chard
I focus on each activity and live in the moment.
Have you ever been offered a role which you regret not accepting?
Sally Mitchell, Skegness Lincolnshire
I can't think of any that I did not accept. There are a few that I accepted that I wish I hadn't.
What is the strangest gift you have been given by a fan?
M.M.Wilmot, Sheffield
I was given a dried head once. Unfortunately, the drying process had been interrupted.
How do you feel life in the public eye and life as a celebrity has changed over the past 60 years?
Liam McKay, Cambridge
I think the paparazzi have become a blight which wasn't so years ago.
You have experienced tremendous loss in your life and have come back (Boston Legal is fantastic). What motivates you to keep going when others might retire and fade away?
James Hanson, Wilmslow, Cheshire
Our lives are a journey and, like any journey, one step at a time.
William Shatner
Shatner breeds and shows American Saddlebred and Quarter Horses
Your appearance at the 1978 sci-fi awards singing Rocket Man is still pretty infamous and legendary. Are you surprised at its legacy in pop culture and its continued reference today by such people as Glenn Beck and in shows such as Family Guy?
Joe H, Donegal, Ireland
I'm flabbergasted at its continuity. The sci-fi award show was just a little show -- no broadcasting and very few people.
I was kidding around and yet here we are with continued reference every day
Given your roots on the stage, would you consider treading the boards in London's West End? A lot of your British fans would love the chance to see you perform in person -- me included!!
Neil Carpenter, Reading, Berkshire
Anything's possible.
Do you have plans to get back in the recording studio for a follow-up to the seminal Has Been LP of 2004?
Steven Knell, London, England by way of Waterloo, Ontario
I would love to do another record. It's a matter of scheduling.
William Shatner's autobiography, Up Till Now, is out now.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/7482823.stm
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Post subject:
Posted: Jul 02, 2008 - 12:51 AM
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Joined: Mar 10, 2004
Posts: 904
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From DVD Times UK...
Boston Legal Season 4 (R1) in September
Posted by Dave Foster on 01-07-2008 18:16
Fox Home Entertainment have announced the Region 1 DVD release of Boston Legal Season 4 on 23rd September 2008 priced at $59.98 SRP. James Spader, William Shatner and Candice Bergen are joined by John Laroquette in the fourth season of David E. Kelley's law comedy drama series.
The 20-episode fourth season is spread across five discs, presented in anamorphic widescreen with English DD5.1 Surround audio and English, French, Portuguese, and Spanish subtitles. The only extra is The New Kids on the Courtroom Floor featurette.
http://www.dvdtimes.co.uk/content.php?contentid=68168
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Post subject:
Posted: Jul 02, 2008 - 02:15 AM
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Post subject:
Posted: Jul 02, 2008 - 10:43 AM
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Joined: Mar 10, 2004
Posts: 904
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Via TV.com...
2008 "Emmy" Finalists...
'Best Supporting Drama Actor' Finalists
Naveen Andrews, Lost ("The Economist")
Bruce Dern, Big Love ("Good Guys and Bad Guys")
Christian Clemenson, Boston Legal ("Roe vs. Wade, The Musical")
Ted Danson, Damages ("Jesus, Mary and Joe Cocker")
Michael Emerson, Lost ("The Shape of Things to Come")
Zeljko Ivanek, Damages ("I Hate These People")
T.R. Knight, Grey's Anatomy ("Freedom, Parts 1 & 2")
William Shatner, Boston Legal ("Mad About You")
John Slattery, Mad Men ( "Long Weekend")
Blair Underwood, In Treatment ("Alex: Week 6")
Jake Weber, Medium ("Wicked Game, Part 1")
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